German Carl Bernard Bartels recognised as Liver Birds creator after 100 years
The man behind Liverpool’s iconic Liver Birds was finally recognised by the city – after 100 years.
German-born Carl Bernard Bartels was thrown out of the country after World War I and even though he later returned to England was never fully recognised as their creator.
Yesterday, as the birds celebrated their centennial birthday, his great-grandson Tim Olden accepted his great-grandfather’s “Citizen of Honor Award” bestowed on him by the council.
He said: “It is wonderful that after 100 years Carl Bernard Bartels is officially being honoured for his contribution to the history of Liverpool. Current and future generations should know that it was ‘Carl Bernard Bartels’ who created the iconic Liver Birds that sit so majestically upon the Liver Building.
“If only it wasn’t such a troubled history that followed, he might well have been recognised earlier for his achievements.”
Bartels died in 1955 and while the Liver Birds came to symbolise the city his name as their maker was not widely known.
After World War I and the bombing Liverpool saw during World War II, there was a lot of anti-German feeling. Bartels’s plans and blueprints for the Liver Birds were in turn destroyed and acknowledgement of their creator as a German was deemed unthinkable.
Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Cllr Frank Prendergast, said: “It is remarkable that the man who designed them has never been fully acknowledged in Liverpool. “After far too long, we are putting that right by posthumously making Carl Bernard Bartels an honorary citizen.”
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